Celebrating the great Canadian game. Tracking the NHL, the Canadian teams and a lot more!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Four find their way to the Hall

Monday night was Induction night at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. A night that in recent times has offered up a wonderful retrospective of what makes hockey the game it has become.

It’s a night for memories and respect, speeches that recount the good times and honour family, friends and mentors. All about the players and less about the business side of the league, a wonderful salute to the players and builders that have built the game up over the years.

With TSN taking on the job of broadcasting the night’s festivities, the event has become a much more official affair than in previous times. This Monday was no exception, James Duthie and the always classy Dick Irvin handled the emcee duties for the night, Gino Reda providing the bridges between inductees.

This years inductees included one of the most dominant goaltenders the league has ever seen, a combatant of the sixties who won Stanley Cups with both Toronto and Montreal, a builder of the game who helped bring a franchise from the Deep South to the Canadian West and a long sought after Stanley Cup for Calgary and the architect of an Olympic medal and legacy as well as a solid coaching career in the NHL.